Forte Rolls Out Privilege Package For Corp. Clients

Forte Hotels has made a play for global business clients by launching a program called Corporate Privilege.

The package includes a dedicated reservations service, Quickbook, and local benefits such as 10 percent off meals at all the group's U.K. hotels. But the major interest for corporate buyers is the establishment of company management reports and a guarantee of priority room availability, even in peak periods.

Forte is ushering in the changes by allocating global Corporate Privilege ID numbers to its major clients. All employees of the same company will carry the same number on their personal Corporate Privilege ID card, which means the disk-based management reports will not give details of spend by individual.

The reports will, however, detail the company's expenditure with each hotel plus the average spend in each region of the world. Buyers also will be able to include subsidiaries on the same ID number, provided they inform Forte of the relationship at the time they register.

The program launch comes soon after Forte's announcement that it will re-enter the luxury market with the Sir Rocco Forte Hotels brand, named for the company's former chairman. He is hoping to open the first hotel in Wales by 1999, followed by between 30 and 50 properties in Europe within five years.

The introduction of Corporate Privilege is a refinement of Forte's previously chaotic arrangements for business clients. Until two years ago, there was no consistent worldwide rate program, leaving buyers to deal with each property individually. Now, each hotel sets a rack rate and a corporate rate, with three additional levels of discount according to the client's global number of room nights.

"With Corporate Privilege, corporate clients are buying not only a price but a product as well," said Forte worldwide sales director Jackie Kernaghan. "This includes priority second only to the rack rate in the yield management program."

This will be welcome news for the U.K. business travel community, which often has complained about being unable to get last-room availability on the corporate rate at Forte's 260 hotels.

"Before, availability was at the discretion of each hotel," explained Kernaghan. "Now a hotel of ours in Paris cannot tell clients that it won't give them a room because they don't have a lot of volume in Paris. If you have the corporate rate, you will get the room."

Under the Corporate Privilege deal, all employees-not just frequent travelers-of an enrolled company will qualify for Forte's loyalty programs. Although these programs are for the general traveling public, Kernaghan said the chain is working on one specifically for the corporate market.